Despite losing record, Sacred Heart Cathedral flying high
Despite losing record, Sacred Heart Cathedral flying high
With a late start, key injuries and a losing record, 2016-17 appeared to be a lost season for first-year Sacred Heart Cathedral boys basketball coach Sean MacKay.
[...] the former St. Francis High and De Anza player and San Leandro coach didn’t see it that way.
Even with a 10-14 record, the Irish have a legitimate shot to reach the Division 3 state title game.
The pieces have definitely came into place the last few weeks.
The chemistry finally developed.
Despite their record, the Irish are the top seed in the Central Coast Section Division 3 tournament.
Considering the top eight teams in the section are picked for the Open Division, earning a top seed in the other divisions isn’t something to shout about.
[...] clearly, SHC, with wins over Open No. 3 Mitty (75-62) and No. 6 seed Serra (62-59), an overtime loss to top-seeded Bellarmine (61-50) and a 59-56 loss to second-seeded St. Ignatius, has shown it can play with the top teams.
The Irish also have a 68-66 overtime loss to The Chronicle’s No. 14 team, James Logan, to open the season.
All those performances came when SHC was completely healthy and featured third-year starting point guard Romello Dunbar (wrist) and leading scorer Nate Robinson (shoulder), a junior guard, who missed significant time this season with injuries.
Add sophomore wing Emmett Neal (16.5 points per game), fourth-year starter Ramzi Carter and a deep bench and MacKay knew the Irish had plenty of talent to compete with the best.
McKay, who coached Milwaukee Bucks guard Jared Cunningham for four years at San Leandro, was hired July 20 after former coach Darrell Barbour was let go in April.
Barbour guided the Irish to a 195-112 record in 10 seasons and their only state title in 2009.
Before MacKay arrived, two returning starters, including All-Metro forward Alfred Hollins, had transferred.
“I was a new coach and I knew it would take some time,” MacKay said.
Two of the better individual stories have been the progression of Neal and Carter.
Neal was the team’s leading scorer in league play — “he’s an excellent three-point shooter,” McKay said — but more impressive to MacKay has been his defensive effort.
“Heading into last week, he had taken 61 charges,” MacKay said.
Carter has long been a defensive force, but lately has contributed regular double-doubles.
“It feels like a lightbulb has gone off with Ramzi,” MacKay said.
There’s generally not much intrigue in first-round section playoff games, but there are a few exceptions in Tuesday’s North Coast Section Division 1 play.
No. 9 Deer Valley-Antioch (18-8) at No. 8 Antioch (16-10), 7 p.m.:
In this crosstown matchup, Deer Valley, led by junior guard Jake Long (13.2 points per game), won at Antioch 67-65 on Friday.
Antioch, paced by the high-scoring backcourt of Kaleb Smith and Kimarje Trent, won at Deer Valley 72-71 on Jan. 31.
No. 13 Mt.
Mt.
Eden has wins over two Chronicle ranked teams in No. 6 Oakland Tech (72-62) and No. 17 Menlo-Atherton (61-53), and beat San Leandro (60-48), which just defeated No. 10 Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland.
Liberty lost five games by a total of 18 points in the rugged Bay Valley Athletic League.
San Leandro has won five of six, including 58-56 at home over O’Dowd on Wednesday.
Host Oakland Tech (25-3) closed out a 10-0 Oakland Athletic League regular season Friday with a 62-57 home win over Fremont-Oakland.
Souley Boum, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, continued his push for Metro Player of the Year with 20 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals.
Mitch Stephens covers high school sports for The San Francisco Chronicle.
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